In a guest post on Jane Friedman’s blog, Tara Deal discusses the perks and challenges of writing novellas and what to do once you’ve finished one. “A novella is perfect, perched between prose and poetry, allowing the reader (not to mention the writer) plenty of space and time to think about things,” Deal says. Unfortunately, few publishers want to tackle the form and readers are less likely to spend money on a thin book.
Deal entered several of her novellas in contests and won. Based on her experience, she offers some tips on what to do with your novella and what to avoid:
- Do not join a writing group or get input on your manuscript. “You don’t want your eccentricities to get flattened out, or deleted entirely,” Deal writes. “A novella doesn’t need to be a regular story. You can just write what you like to think. You can play around with the format.”
- Clear out excess, explication, or autobiography. “However long your novella is now, cut it in half (okay, by a third),” Deal suggests. “It’s nice when a novella approaches an elongated prose poem.” However:
- Don’t write an elongated prose poem—or even worse, a short story. Novellas hit the sweet spot between short stories and novels. Let it be what it is.
- Consider what you want and why you’re writing a novella. “Write what is required,” Deal says. “Write what you can’t avoid.” Resist the temptation to expand the story unnecessarily to get to novel length. Let the content and form find each other.
- Write and be done. “When the manuscript seems finished, or close enough, stop,” Deal recommends. “Put it away for a few months (or a year if you have time to waste), then reread it again, then submit it.”
- When you do submit, embrace the blind contests. Deal loves blind contests, because she doesn’t have to worry if the judges have heard of her. “Imagine if we could all just read interesting books without worrying about who the author is,” she says. “That would be a beautiful world.”
